Bradbury Park’s mountain bike trails get funding, but riders say they’ve deteriorated badlyThe state park's 22-mile system was a draw for riders, but erosion around roots and rocks now turn many away.

... “The trails are very rooty and rocky. I don’t know what it was like 10 years ago. I have heard people say it’s become more rooty,” said Dombrowik, of Freeport. “There are usually quite a few cars here in the parking lot. But I’ve never seen it full.”

A decade ago cars carrying mountain bikes poured into Bradbury as armies of riders rode after work. Now many riders in greater Portland say they don’t ride at Bradbury that much, in part because other trail systems now exist. And riders who helped build the Bradbury trail system in 2006 say the state has allowed the trails to erode and degrade.

“It was the best we had. It was new, it was original and it was the only real option,” said Brian Stearns of Freeport. “Now with the soil becoming so compressed at Bradbury, nobody is going out there. It’s a root festival.”